Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Despite playing with fever, Kevin Ferrer played his best game of his collegiate career in a big win for University of Santo Tomas this week.
Ferrer scored a career-high 27 points including three pivotal three-pointers for the Growling Tigers to complete a 68-58 win over Ateneo after trailing by as many as 16 points in the game that earned him the ACCEL Quantum/3XVI-UAAP Press Corps Player of the Week.
Read: Ferrer sparks UST comeback to beat Ateneo 68-58
The win put UST in second place with a 4-1 win-loss slate, half a game behind Far Eastern University following this weekend’s matches.
UST coach Bong Dela Cruz was glad with Ferrer’s heart to play, more so since he was feeling ill even a day prior to their all-important match against the Blue Eagles.
“This is Kevin Ferrer. You can’t question his heart. He played sick and he fought whatever he was feeling during the game,” Dela Cruz said.
Dela Cruz added Ferrer helped UST bolster its comeback in the fourth quarter with his leadership as the team bounced back in a big way from its first defeat of the season against National University after going 3-0.
“We were flat on defense in the first three quarters. Kevin huddled the team. They responded well,” said Dela Cruz of Ferrer, who is playing in his final year with UST.
“We relaxed after we went 3-0,” Ferrer admitted. “After we lost, we talked to each other to talk about what we did wrong. It helped us for this game.”
Ferrer became the second UST player to win the weekly award given by UAAP scribes after Ed Daquiaog. He also beat Mac Belo and Mike Tolomia of Far Eastern University and Gelo Alolino of NU for the plum.
Meanwhile, Letran’s Mark Cruz’s ability in the clutch was on full display on Friday as he exploded for 12 points in the fourth quarter to rally Letran to a come-from-behind 87-81 victory over Arellano University that keep them in front of the hotly contested Final Four race in the 91st NCAA season.
Cruz, who was selected in the third round by Star Hotshots in last month’s PBA rookie draft, finished with 20 points including four booming triples and eight free throws out of 10 attempts while spiking his scoring effort with four rebounds and the same number of assists.
Thanks to Cruz, the Knights are now atop the heap with the San Beda Lions on identical 12-4 (win-loss) record and were assured of at least a playoff for a Final Four berth.
Cruz’s heroics also clinched him the ACCEL Quantum/3XVI-NCAA Press Corps Player of the Week award, besting youthful teammate Rey Nambatac, Jose Rizal’s John Pontejos and San Beda’s Arthur dela Cruz.
And Letran coach Aldin Ayo was all praises of Cruz.
“He’s one of the leaders of this team so we rely on him to take and make the big shots,” said Ayo of the diminutive but big-hearted Cruz.
